OTTAWA — After gains were made in February and March, the seasonally adjusted annualized rate of new home construction pushed lower to 117,400. That’s down 20 per cent from 146,500 units in March.
“The decrease in April's housing starts is partly attributable to the volatile multiple starts segment,” said Bob Dugan, chief economist at the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation's Market Analysis Centre. “Most of the decline has occurred in the condominium segment in Ontario.”
Ontario multi-family starts represent a sizable share of Canadian housing starts generally, and fluctuations so far this year in national figures have been closely tied to this segment. The SAAR of urban starts in Ontario dropped 26,500 units this month, which represents roughly 91 per cent of the total national decline.
In other regional markets: Atlantic Canada saw a 16 per cent decline from March, Quebec lost 7 per cent, the Prairies lost 3 per cent and British Columbia saw a 1 per cent increase in SAAR starts.
The national SAAR of rural starts rose by 8 per cent after having been flat in each of the last two months.